Usability Study of Electronic Sphygmomanometers Based on Perceived Ease of Use and Affordance

Abstract

Aging is becoming an urgent issue in China, the curve of aging growth rate is rising. Home-based medical care for the elderly is important to their quality of life, especially for those who live independently in countryside. An electronic sphygmomanometer (ES) can measure blood pressure to detect physical condition and greatly assists the elderly. However, studies have shown that age has a certain hindrance to people’s ability to deal with information. Due to the use of products that have various functions and complex operations, the ergonomic problems of elderly people are increasingly prominent today. Many existing products are not well adapted to their needs. In the face of new products and new technologies, they often show up as retreat. This paper studies the factors that affect the intention to use new products for the elderly (60–70 years old) based on Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) and Affordance, taking ES as an example. There are two experiments in the study. The first experimental task, 10 experts and 10 elderly rated the 10 representative ES based on PEU (1–7 points). Appearance (affordance) characteristics was found out based on score ordering. The second experimental task, another 10 elderly used these ES in the last score order and rated the 10 representative ES. The Studies showed that the elderly was more willing to use the products with affordance features. Features such as text affordance, color affordance, and form affordance have a good guiding effect on the use of new products by elderly.